


Mud & Sand, Mist & Sun

by figmentera



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Parallels, War zones, and a lot of tea, i ran with them both, i was given two prompts, one was outside my comfort zone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 12:58:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8846020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/figmentera/pseuds/figmentera
Summary: Two of Obi-Wan's encounters with cliffs, and the very different circumstances surrounding the occasions.





	1. Mud

The mud had soaked into his very bones. Obi-Wan doubted he’d ever be free of it.

They’d been fighting all night through the thick, wet jungle, struggling to break through the Separatist force and reunite with Anakin and his men. It was dawn now, a dim, misty dawn, punctuated by blaster fire from both sides. 

There should be life, in a jungle like this, shouldn’t there? He’d spent time in this type of climate zone before. The morning should’ve heralded birdsong and other noises of the indigenous life. Not more of the same noises of destruction and death. 

Obi-Wan leaned back against the log he was using for cover, taking a deep breath. No time to let his mind wander like that. He pulled his canteen from his belt, unscrewed the top and took a long gulp of the tea. It had gone cold hours ago, and had been left to steep far too long. Still, it was marginally better than caf, as far as stimulants went. 

He refastened the canteen to his belt, swapping it out for his lightsaber, and peered over the edge of his cover. The mist was too thick to see the enemy, and, most inconveniently, the Force wasn’t much good at detecting the locations of electronic enemies, either. He sighed. Another blind push, then. Well, they’d been doing it all night, they could do it once more. 

He pulled out his comlink, just to test. “Cody. Cody, do you copy?”

Nothing but static. The Federation’s jamming was still up, then. He sighed again. It would take some time to find the commander in the mist and chaos of battle, it would hardly be worth it. Still, he’d feel much better about this whole maneuver if he had some way of coordinating…

Well, time to worry about that later. He ignited his saber, vaulted over the log and charged. His blade swung wildly to catch blaster bolts. Behind him, he heard the change in cadence of blasts as his men recognized the sound of his lightsaber and followed. A moment later, he was up among the enemy. Obi-Wan’s saber flashed out, cutting through all the droids in reach. He kept running, kept swinging, living only in the moment. He heard only his own lightsaber and his own breath. He saw only the circle of threats around him. 

Then, suddenly, there was nothing in front of him. Quite literally, nothing. The ground before him gave way to a sheer drop-off, disappearing into the mist. 

“Cliff!” he called back to the troops behind him, and heard them slowing down, spreading the news along the line. He looked back, raising his saber absently to send a bolt hurtling away from his head back towards its origin. The bulk of the Separatist force was behind them, now. They’d pushed through it, and now they were hemmed in. And Anakin was still a good distance ahead. 

“Well, this is just charming,” he muttered, and started down the line. If he could find Cody, maybe he’d have some idea of their options. 

 

It turned out that the spot near the middle, where Obi-Wan had run into the edge, jutted out farther than the rest of the cliff, into a little outcropping. In fifteen minutes, he’d found Cody and had the men set up in defensive positions on the outcropping. 

“Is everyone accounted for?” Obi-Wan asked, surveying the group. It looked smaller than it had last night. Surely they hadn’t had that many casualties– the droids had been firing just as blind as they’d been. 

“No, sir.” Cody replied. “Twenty missing. We suspect many just got lost, sir. Visibility was almost nil last night. They might be able to find their way here, if we could get the jamming down and they had a signal to follow.” 

“The force we fought last night was too mobile to be guarding a jammer. It must be with another group– probably the main force, wherever that is.” He stared off into the white distance. “Maybe Anakin and the rest of our people have found it. If we could only get to him we could have a better idea of what was going on.”

“I think we could defend this ground for a while, sir. We could send forward a smaller scouting group to find General Skywalker, and hold out here until they return with news.” 

“Good idea, Cody. In fact… I’ll do it myself. I’m more likely to find them, after all.” He stared down at the cliffs. “I just need a way to get down….”

“I’m not certain that’s the best idea, sir…” 

“There’s springs in the cliff,” Obi-Wan noted. “There’s probably pools at the bottom.”

“At least bring along some backup, Sir. I can recommend–“ 

Obi-Wan kicked at a pebble, cocking his ear to listen. A moment later he nodded. “I heard the splash. Not that far down, either. No, Cody, an escort won’t be necessary. I’ll contact you as soon as the jamming field goes down.”

“Sir, what are you–“ 

Cody stopped talking as Obi-Wan took a few steps backward, dashed forward and jumped off the cliff. As he fell, Obi-Wan could swear he heard Cody saying “Oh, for Force’s sake–“ before he hit the water. 

It wasn’t that far down, really, thirty feet or so, and plenty deep enough to catch him. Nothing to worry about. He broke surface again, swam to the edge, wishing he’d thought to remove his robe first, and called ‘I’m fine, Cody,” up at the distant grumbles. “Just sit tight until I get back.”

The grumbles got slightly louder, but there was no direct response. Obi-Wan grinned, and turned to trudge off into the depths of the jungle. His hair was dripping, his clothes were drenched, but at least the mud had come off, finally. All that was left was water, and that would dry, given time. He just had to find his way through the jungle, locate Anakin, come up with a plan for bringing down the jammer, and make it back to rescue his men before they ran into any droids they couldn’t handle. 

All in a day’s work.


	2. Sand

It was still dark and cool outside when Obi-Wan woke up. He opened his eyes slowly, lay still for a moment, then pushed himself up, rubbed his face, and softly crossed his little hut to the ancient food preparation unit in one wall. He carefully poured one cup’s worth of precious water, and set it to warming. Meanwhile, he opened the collection of clay jars nearby, carefully measuring each herb and root in exactly the right quantities and pouring them into his rough mug.

It had taken him nearly three years to refine this blend of plants from Tatooine’s scant vegetation. He’d found an old healer, someone who knew the desert’s secrets better than anyone, and he’d learned. He’d taken the leaves that were safe to eat and dried them in the way the healer told him to, and then in several other ways when they didn’t come out how he wanted them. He’d balanced quantities, balanced steeping times, balanced flavors. Finally, he’d found the blend that suited him best. 

When the water reached the right temperature, just before it boiled, he turned off the heat and poured the water into the mug. He took the mug with him as he left his little hut, walking up a steep path to the cliff’s edge. It was still too dark to see, but it didn’t matter. He’d walked this path often enough that walking it in the dark was no longer any trouble. 

Just before the edge, he stopped and sat, setting the mug beside him. This was his favorite time of day. The shapes of the desert were visible only where they caught the starlight and moonlight, the air still had a touch of bite to it, and for now, until the suns came up, he could watch the stars. 

That had been a new experience when he first came here. Coruscant had far too much light pollution for its stars to shine, and he’d never stayed long enough on another planet to learn their constellations. He still hadn’t learned the names that the people of Tatooine gave to their stars, but he knew their shapes, now, and their patterns. Working them out had been a valuable distraction his first year, when sleep was hard to come by. 

He reached down to his mug, and brought it to his lips. At the first sip, he smiled. It had come out perfectly. Delicate and complex and at the end just a little spicy. It was still warm against the cold at the end of the night, but not too warm. 

Wrapping his hand firmly around the mug, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and reached out, opening himself to the Force. It swirled around, a bright living thing in the midst of the desert. He reached out for it, separating himself from the turbulence of life, from all cares and worries and regrets– 

It almost worked. For one moment, he almost achieved true serenity. Then it broke in a gust of wind and a shiver, and the regrets were back. 

Well. He could live with that. He’d had three long years with little to do but learn how. 

He could see the slight brightening ahead, the dimming of the stars that meant the suns were coming up soon. He took a breath, and smiled just slightly, then took a deep sip from his tea. 

He timed it well. The first sun appeared just as he reached the dregs of his tea. He set his empty mug beside him, and brushed his hand through the rock and sand, picking up a handful. Holding it out in front of him, he let it slip through his fingers. The smooth feeling of the sand sliding away from his hand and the sight of it falling down the drop before him were soothing. They gave him something to think about in the present. He watched the last of the grains disappear into the chasm. 

As the first sun grew too bright, he put up his hand instinctively, deflecting its rays. He could see the light still, spreading across every dune and every spire of rock, illuminating the landscape that had become as familiar as his own hands. He saw the cluster of rocks in the distance that sheltered a patch of the Isdane root he used in his tea. He saw the pass that lead into the nearest settlement, where he went to trade when necessary. He saw the endless canyons that he was determinedly mapping, learning every turn of.

This life was nothing like the one Obi-Wan had expected for himself. He’d lived on the most populated planet of them all, once. Now he was alone in a desert, with little more than occasional lizards for company. Once he had tried every day to solve all the problems in the galaxy singlehandedly. Now, he only sat in wait, trusting that another would fix all his mistakes. It was a strange kind of life, one he’d thought he’d never adjust to. 

Yet he had. He had grown roots on this forbidding planet, slowly but surely. He had learned a few of its secrets, learned a way to survive, and somewhere along the way, it had become home. 

The desert had worked its way into his very bones, and Obi-Wan knew he would never be free of it.


End file.
